PRESS RELEASE

Rep. Marcy Kaptur Introduces Glass-Steagall
into U.S. House of Representatives at the
Beginning of the 2017 Session

Feb. 1, 2017 (EIRNS)—Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) held a press conference in the U.S. House of Representatives today to announce that she has introduced bill HR790 into the U.S. House of Representatives, calling for the re-enactment of the Glass-Steagall Act.

At the press conference today, Rep. Kaptur announced that 26 other Members of Congress are co-sponsoring the bill. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) appeared at the press conference with Representative Kaptur and made short statements, as did Bartlett Naylor, an expert on financial markets from Public Citizen.

This was the first press conference on Glass-Steagall held in the U.S. House in six years.

EIR representatives attended and LPAC TV live-streamed the press conference. Three Glass-Steagall lobbying delegations came to organize support for Representative Kaptur’s bill, and its introduction into the U.S. Senate: 16 from Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia with petition signatures directed to President Trump; a delegation of 17-18 from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and a delegation of six from Baltimore and Virginia. The delegations said they came to Congress to tell their Representatives that they have to fight for Glass-Steagall. One union representative said that she could get hundreds of signatures of support for the bill. The Ohio-centered delegation presented Representative Kaptur with 650 letters to President Trump and asked her to deliver them, which she pledged to "find a way to do."

Rep. Kaptur opened the press conference by stating:

"Recently, there has been a real uptick and support for restoring the Glass-Steagall Act. Fifteen state legislatures, including the state of Ohio, have introduced resolutions calling for Congress to reinstate ... Glass-Steagall. The Democratic and Republican Parties enacted Glass-Steagall positions in their ... platforms.... President Donald Trump even endorsed the call for ‘a 21st-Century version of Glass-Steagall’ during a campaign statement in Charlotte, North Carolina. We have an obligation to work with him to achieve that."

Rep. Walter Jones, a co-sponsor, said that with 2017 here, the time had arrived to get Glass-Steagall passed; he said he intended to be active with the Administration and fellow Republicans on this. Rep. Jones co-sponsored the Glass-Steagall bill introduced into the 114th Congress (2015-2016) as well as the bill in the 115th Congress.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said, "I have supported Glass-Steagall for a long period of time," adding that she intended to actively work to get it passed.

Rep. Tim Ryan said that the repeal of Glass-Stagall in 1999 was the "original sin that led to the downward spiral of our states and communities," and he called Glass-Steagall "just the first step" of rebuilding the economy. Rep. Ryan, was the only Congressional challenger to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for Democratic Leader in the House, following the Democratic losses of Congressional seats in the 2016 election.